Princess may deny boarding to Australians who buy their tickets from U.S. T.A.'s

[Host Mike]

"Retiree Neil O'Brien decided not to travel on Carnival Australia's Princess Cruises' 16-day trip out of Singapore after being given the same advice and told he would have to pay more than $4500 over the price he could obtain from a US website.

Mr O'Brien said he was told by representatives from Princess Cruises, Harvey World Travel and Flight Centre that he could be denied entry to the boat if he bought his tickets from a US-based reseller. "Why are Australians being punished for shopping around and who pockets the over $4500 difference?" Mr O'Brien said.

Vacations To Go, one of the biggest suppliers of discount cruise tickets in the world, has an advice on its website that it cannot service Australian travellers."

http://www.couriermail.com.au/money/money-matters/holidaymakers-who-buy-discount-cruise-tickets-online-may-be-denied-entry-says-accc/story-fn3hskur-1225961671477

[f-mattox]

Well that seems incredibly unfair; and $4500 is a huge difference in price.  Shame on Princess.

[NSWP]

Pretty right, we get a rough deal, cannot book with a US T/A on most cruise lines including, Princess, HAL, Cunard, Carnival, Costa, all Carnival Group lines.

Also the prices we have to book through Princess Australia website are more than booking through Princess US site, which we cannot access.

I know of many Aussie cruisers who have booked through the USA with an Aussie t/a..don't know if anyone has ever been denied boarding though.  And I don't know how the Aussie t/a does it, must getting around the policy somehow.

Now you know why many Aussies remove their auto tips once on board, they think they have already contributed to the Carnival wage fund by paying big and unfair cruise prices.

I don't want to start a war on the auto tip subject, enough of that on CC.  But I leave my thoughts with you.

[f-mattox]

I wonder if the removal of auto-tips would diminish if Princess offered uniform pricing (??)

[obendus]

Also the prices we have to book through Princess Australia website are more than booking through Princess US site, which we cannot access.

Something that may not change unless Princess senses consumer resistance.
Why do they seem justified in charging large price differentials?

[f-mattox]

I seem to remember Princess yielding to pressure and extending Captain's Circle benefits to either Canadian or Australian (or both?) customers.

[NSWP]

Yes finally about 3 years ago Princess Captains Circle benefits were extended to Australians, still don't get the atlas though.  We had kept cruise records and went straight to platinum in 2007 and then Elite in 2008.  

To demonstrate how few Princess Elite pax there are in Australia, on Sun Princess around Australia, they invited many platinum cruisers to the Captains luncheon, only 16 Elites on board, inc us.

Sorry for the hijack, back to the topic, re Princess may deny boarding to Australians who buy their tickets from U.S.  I have yet to hear of any Aussies who have been denied boarding because of the above.